1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a paper-sheet handling apparatus that performs charging or discharging a paper sheet, and more particularly, to a paper-sheet handling apparatus capable of selectively discharging a bill of different denominations efficiently.
2) Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a paper-sheet handling apparatus that performs discharging paper sheets, such as a bill, a check, a ticket, or a cash voucher, is used. The paper-sheet handling apparatus is used, for example, as a cash processor, such as a bill charging/discharging machine, or an apparatus mounted on an automated machine, such as cash dispenser (CD) or an automatic teller machine (ATM).
As shown in FIG. 1, a paper-sheet handling apparatus 100 includes a bill discharging unit 200, a bill conveying unit 210, a rejecting unit 220, a feeding/conveying unit 230, and a cassette storage unit 240. The cassette storage unit 240 includes a plurality of cassettes 300. Each of the cassettes 300 stores a pile of bills of different denominations. The bill stored in the cassettes 300 is fed out from the cassettes 300 by a bill feeding/conveying apparatus A that performs feeding of the bill. Then, the bill is discharged through the feeding/conveying unit 230, the bill conveying unit 210, and the bill discharging unit 200.
FIG. 14A is a schematic diagram of a conventional bill feeding/conveying apparatus A, and FIG. 14B is a schematic diagram of a drive system of the conventional bill feeding/conveying apparatus A. The cassettes 300 will be explained as the cassettes 300 that form a two-stage structure by arranging one of the cassettes 300 in an upper portion in the paper-sheet handling apparatus and the other one of the cassettes 300 in a lower portion in the paper-sheet handling apparatus. Each of the cassettes 300 includes a different denomination of bills.
As shown in FIGS. 14 and 14B, the bill feeding/conveying apparatus A includes feeding/conveying drive motors 430 and 440 that are provided at an upper position and a lower position in the cassette storage unit 240 shown in FIG. 1, drive transmitting gears 515 that transmit driving of the feeding/conveying drive motors 430 and 440, and pickup rollers 600 and 610 that convey a bill. A separation mechanism that separates bills is provided near the pickup rollers 600 and 610.
Drive gears 510 that are fixed on tips (right ends in FIG. 14B) of output shafts of the feeding/conveying drive motors 430 and 440 and the drive transmitting gears 515 that are fixed on tips (right ends in FIG. 14B) of drive shafts of the pickup rollers 600 and 610 are coupled to each other by a pulley belt 516. A rotation drive force of the feeding/conveying drive motors 430 and 440 is transmitted through the drive gears 510 and the drive transmitting gears 515 to rotate the pickup rollers 600 and 610. The bill is fed out by the rotation.
In other words, in the conventional bill feeding/conveying apparatus A, when a bill stored in the cassette 300 that is arranged at the upper portion is fed out and conveyed, the feeding/conveying drive motor 430 is driven in a forward rotation, which is in a counterclockwise direction shown with an arrow in a solid line in FIG. 14A, to rotate the pickup roller 600 in a direction to which the bill is conveyed, which is the counterclockwise direction.
On the other hand, when a bill in the cassette 300 that is arranged at the lower portion is fed out and conveyed, the feeding/conveying drive motor 440 is similarly driven in a forward rotation, which is in a counterclockwise direction shown with an arrow in a solid line in FIG. 14A, to rotate the pickup roller 610 in a direction to which the bill is conveyed, which is a counterclockwise direction.
In the bill feeding/conveying apparatus A, if a collateral rotation of the pickup rollers 600 and 610 or failure, in separation of bills occurs, a tip of a bill sticks out from a bill feeding port 325 (FIG. 3B) that is formed at a tip of the cassette 300. In this case, it is necessary to re-set the bill that sticks out inside the cassette 300.
Therefore, conventionally, the bill that slightly sticks out from the bill feeding port 325 is returned inside the cassette 300 by a bill returning control. The bill returning control is performed by driving the feeding/conveying drive motor 430 or 440 in a reverse rotation to reversely rotate the pickup roller 600.
Such a technology is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-030716 Publication.
However, in the bill feeding/conveying apparatus A in the conventional paper-sheet handling apparatus, more than one drive sources (feeding/conveying drive motors 430 and 440) are required. As described above, one each of the feeding/conveying drive motor 430 or 440 is provided for each denomination of bills. By each the feeding/conveying drive motor 430 or 440, a bill of different denominations separately stored in each of the cassettes 300 are fed out. Consequently, a number of parts that forms the drive system increases, thereby increasing manufacturing cost and making a rotation control (forward rotation/reverse rotation) of the conveying drive motors 430 and 440 complicated. Furthermore, in recent years, since a space for an apparatus to be placed is limited, a paper-sheet handling apparatus that is compact and that can be placed in a small space is desired.